City Proposes Plan to Widen Streets in Hollywood

Representatives from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning discussed with residents a plan that would modify Hollywood street standards and promote transportation development at the Hollywood United Neighborhood Council meeting Monday night. 

The Draft Hollywood Community Plan would alter street standards to allow for wider streets that could accommodate more pedestrians as the city plans to expand its Metro rail service in the future. Currently, the standard for sidewalks is 10 feet wide, but the proposed plan would change that to 12 feet in some areas of Hollywood. The streets that include the Walk of Fame, such as Vine Street, would remain at 15 feet to preserve them as a historical-culture monuments.

The draft plan also includes land use changes to accommodate for growth in commercial and multifamily residential zones, which would dissolve a development limitations such as building height and size that was set in 1988. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) of the plan is available online, and the public comment period has been extended until June 1.

HUNC President Susan Swan also gave a brief update on the motion approved at the to request that Community District 4 install four signs guiding tourists safely to Lake Hollywood Park. On March 24, the council wrote a letter to Councilmember Tom LaBonge, but it has yet to receive any official response back from the district. 

In the letter drafted by Swan and HUNC Secretary Don Paul, they wrote: “The irresistible draw of the Hollywood Sign vista is universal, and we wish to find the right balance. Safe access to a public park via public streets is a vital concern to all of us. The safety issues surrounding appropriate open access to Mount Lee are also of great concern. We urge you to take lead on our recommendations (in particular, item #8B3) immediately and look forward to assisting you in making our community safe both for the public, the residents, and the surrounding neighborhood.”

Item 8B3 requested the installation of signs to divert traffic away from Deronda Drive. The signs would be installed on Deronda Drive and Ledgewood Drive, Heather Drive and Ledgewood Drive and at Ledgewood Drive and Mulholland Drive. The council hopes that there will be action on this motion by its next meeting in May.

However, a March 22 letter from the law firm Chatten-Brown & Carstens representing the "Committee to Save the Hollywoodland Specific Plan" to Bruce Gilman of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation called the Hollywood signage a “project” that needs to be approved with an environmental review in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act before signs could be installed. The HUNC and LaBonge were also sent the letter.

In other news, the baseline hillside ordinance was signed by the mayor and will become effective May 9. The ordinance allows homeowners to build a home based on the curve of the land, removing a design limitation that resulted in tall box-like structures in hillside neighborhoods.